Taylor Swift was the guest on October 29, 2014 on ABC’s “The View.” “The View”on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Lou Rocco)

“The View” will be run by ABC News instead of the Entertainment division, the network announced Thursday, as ratings slip, producers change and minus the longtime presence of Barbara Walters.

This is a time of major change for the daily talk show, not least among its cast. “Moving “The View” to our non-fiction programming group now allows it to fully draw on the vast resources of ABC News and our team in New York,” James Goldston, the president of ABC News, said in a message to staff.

Putting “The View” in the non-fiction programming group means it will live alongside the occasional series “NY Med.” Under the news banner, the talk show still will not be subject to restrictions followed by news shows. It will still be free to make deals and offer inducements to land guests.

Ricardo Baca, recently named marijuana editor for The Denver Post, chatted with Barbara Walters and the gang on ABC’s syndicated daytime show, “The View,” Tuesday. Only Whoopi seemed interested in pursuing the conversation regarding the various strains of weed currently under review by the website, The Cannabist. And only Whoopi was curious when Baca mentioned hiring additional marijuana critics. But all chimed in with questions about Colorado’s newly legal recreational drug.

Interestingly, they got past the superficial joking that has undermined other interview attempts and inquired about the basics: What qualified Baca to be the weed editor? (former music critic for 12 years!) Are you encouraging pot use? What do you say to people who hate the very idea of legalized weed?

Baca was at ease taking a journalistic stance, neither encouraging nor discouraging but reporting on the legal, political and cultural aspects of the new Colorado reality. He’s had so much practice with these national media interviews, he’s starting to look like he belongs.

His vile comments last week, aimed at a female Georgetown U. student but intended for “feminazis” everywhere, resulted in seven advertisers — update: eight — pulling their spots from his show. Pervy behavior comes with a price.

Calling a young woman who advocates birth control “a slut,” and accusing her of having “so much sex it’s amazing she can even walk,” and going further to suggest he’d like to see videos of said sex… Rush got his comeuppance in a way he can understand. Right-thinking sponsors yanked their ad dollars.

AOL became the eighth sponsor to suspend advertising on Limbaugh’s show.

With heart surgery in common, Barbara Walters and Star Jones seem to have made up. Jones will return to “The View” for a guest appearance Feb. 22, the show announced today. They’ll push a campaign by the American Heart Assn. to promote awareness of heart disease in women.

Jones, one of the original co-hosts of the daytime chat show, left “The View” under stressful circumstances in 2006. ABC decided not to renew her contract and Jones took Walters by surprise by announcing that she would leave the show. In a slap, Walters wouldn’t allow her back the next day. The public dust-up continued when Walters criticized Jones for not revealing her gastric bypass surgery; Jones criticized Walters for writing about her affairs in an autobiography.

Apparently they’ve made up now and are united in their cardiac concerns.

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.